We’re leaping into ballooning feet first, and we got a great deal on a hot air balloon! We named the balloon “Sonoran Star” and had it inspected by an FAA Repair Station (Balloon RX) last week. He said it was in fantastic condition and a great deal, so we bought it. This weekend it looks like we’ll go pick it up and then we’re going to head to Sedona for our first flight in it. I am so excited!

hot air balloon, sonoran star

This will allow us to continue gaining flight hours towards our private pilot certificate, but we’ll be learning on our balloon, so hopefully it’ll give us a bit more confidence when we go to take our FAA check ride. Way too many pictures to follow, I’m sure. And then of course, we have to make the balloon cards (they look like baseball cards, with your balloon’s pic on the front and its stats on the back). Then we need to make pins, a few shirts, maybe a couple of ballcaps. I can already hear my husband going, “Oh boy, here it comes.” ;-)